Once we were ready, the three of us headed out, leaving the cleared area behind and moving into the wider streets beyond our territory.
There was a shortcut to the Boardwalk—the barricade jump Summer used yesterday near the Pier Shops mall would have cut the walk in half. But showing up that way wasn't exactly the impression I wanted to make with Marlon's people. I mean, it would be weird and suspicious as hell to appear out of nowhere inside their territory through that way...
Better to take the longer route and walk in through the proper entrance, the same way Clara and I had entered the first time.
So we walked.
The sun was already working hard overhead. Cindy had been right about August, it was genuinely aggressive out here in the open, pressing down on the exposed asphalt and radiating back up in waves you could almost see.
"Ryan," Cindy said from behind me. "Are you ever going to retire that jacket?"
